Category: Family

We’ve changed our logo and retail store names, with the customer in mind. If you wondered why, I’d like to share.

First, a little background about our farm.

The ledger of purchase of the farm and an early image of the land. The farm came into the family on Jay Hansen’s mother’s side.

Our farm has been in the family for 152 years, since 1864. For most of that time, our ancestors operated a self-sustaining farm with many different animals and crops. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the farm started specializing in dairy.

The Hansen family, circa 1995. I’m sure they love that I’m using this photo.

In 1975, Jay and Jeanne Hansen began raising their four sons, Brent, Brad, Blair, and Blake, and their daughter, Lynn, on the farm. As the children grew up, Mom and Dad encouraged them to explore other paths besides working on the home farm. They never wanted them to feel like working on the farm had to be their lot in life. Career options among the siblings included cow hoof trimming, teaching, and yes, even managing cows on other dairy farms.

But in 2000, Jay and Jeanne began to discuss the idea of retirement. The days get long and the bodies get tired. If no one was going to carry on the dairy tradition, the cows could be sold.

But the sons didn’t want to see that happen. The idea of opening an on-farm creamery was tossed around to add value to the milk; if successful, the family could capture more of their hard-earned profits, instead of shipping it off to the middlemen in the dairy supply chain. They could also support the five families on nearly the same number of cows. Hansen’s Farm Fresh Dairy was born.

The first gallons of whole milk coming off the line in 2004.

The creamery opened in February 2004. Jay and Jeanne mortgaged their retirement on this venture, and each brother had his own responsibilities to make it go. Blake, my husband and the youngest brother, would care for the dairy cow herd; Blair would manage the cropland and livestock nutrition; Brad would operate the creamery; and Brent would deliver the products to area grocery stores, eateries and care facilities.

In 2006, the family decided to open their first retail store: Moo Roo in Waterloo. The logo had always been a kangaroo, as Blake loved the marsupials he saw on a trip to Australia and wanted to have them as pets. With several wallabies (miniature kangaroos) on the farm, it was an obvious choice for a product logo that would stand out on the shelf. The new store name reflected the combination of cows and kangaroos on our farm.

With the success of that store, we thought another store in Cedar Falls would open more eyes to our local product. However, Moo Roo had a hard-dip ice cream parlor, in addition to selling our products and other local goods. The Cedar Falls store was thought to be sort of temporary, a place to sell surplus milk that we had due to our milk staying at a fixed price while other dairy prices were on the rise. We hoped consumers would try our milk for the price and be hooked on the taste and local aspect. So, our Cedar Falls store was named Hansen’s Farm Fresh Dairy Outlet so people would know it was not exactly the same footprint as the Waterloo store.

Fast forward to 2014. Business at both stores was good; the Outlet was no longer temporary but an important fixture in our overall business plan. Another opportunity arose — buying the building in which our Outlet was located, along with a gas station and Chinese restaurant. Since we loved our location, we decided it was a good choice.

Along with the building, it meant we became owners of the gas station. Sell gas? Sure, we could sell gas. It’s a staple, just like milk. (We’ve already heard the one about how Hansen’s Dairy gives you gas, heehee.)

But this year, we decided to leave the Conoco name behind. Hansen’s was already well-known in the community, so we didn’t need the benefit of the name recognition provided by a large corporation. And by cutting ties with Conoco, more of the customers’ dollars would stay in the local community.

Meanwhile, someone in the marketing department here (ahem) had been thinking about our logo. It was 10 years old; the colors were drab, it had a lot of words and a complicated kangaroo/cow-in-her-pouch image. With growth comes the opportunity for a fresh start.

Mike Tyer of Cohesive Creative and Code in Hudson (a fellow graduate of mine at Wartburg in 2003) designed several new possibilities for us. In the end we went with a logo reminiscent of old-time milk bottle caps; I loved the feeling of a wholesome, simpler time. The kangaroo remains, but there is no cow in the pouch. We hope by now that people know the milk comes from the cows, not from the kangaroos. Just like a duck and a gecko can advertise insurance, and a tiger can advertise frosted cereal, a kangaroo can sell milk. We removed the words “farm fresh” (even though you know it still is) and more prominently featured our name.

A comparison of the old logo and the new logo, created in 2015

Now for the retail stores. The name Moo Roo is, of course, cute and clever. But I was beginning to wonder: Do people on the street know that the store is more than just an ice cream parlor? That it primarily sells Hansen’s Dairy products, made just down the road? And that there are all kinds of local meats, cheeses, produce, snacks, locally crafted gift items and more available here?

The idea of having a new logo was met with resistance by some in our family (even my own husband). But I firmly believe the new brand will help us be more consistent across every facet of our business.

By leaving behind the Conoco name, we had to create new signage for our Cedar Falls site. At the same time, the Moo Roo landlords were putting a new facade on our building. What excellent timing. We would put up new signage featuring our rebrand at the Cedar Falls site, and use the opportunity of a fresh start at Moo Roo to put up new signage there, too. It’s been a long two years of Kimball Avenue road construction and building/parking lot improvements.

Now we are officially Hansen’s Dairy stores, located in Waterloo and Cedar Falls. You can still call it Moo Roo. The family will still casually call it that, and we know others will too. But inside still has all the same goodness it has always had, and the Cedar Falls store will only get better.

In honor of Dairy Month, we decided to show you a few of our favorite easy to make dairy snacks!

Smoothies: A great way to beat that nasty Iowa heat. Combine yogurt, milk, ice cubes and your favorite fruits and blend to make a tasty, refreshing treat! For an extra-thick smoothie with added calcium, include a spoonful of milk powder. For addition protein, toss in a spoonful of peanut butter with a banana and vanilla yogurt – yum yum!

Ice Pops: A great snack for kids on the go! Mix leftover smoothies from the above recipe or 100% fruit juice, yogurt and fruit like raspberries, strawberries or blueberries. Pour into ice cube trays and pop in the freezer for a sweet, frozen snack!

Parfaits: Parfaits are easily made by layering yogurt, fresh fruit and granola or chopped nuts. Looking for something a little different? Use cottage cheese in place of the yogurt! (photo from blueprintforbeauty.com)

Mini Pizzas: A tasty, filling snack. Simply spread pizza sauce onto a whole grain English muffin and top with a small handful of shredded mozzarella cheese. For a heartier pizza, add lean hamburger, Canadian bacon and green peppers or mushrooms. Pop it in the oven for 3-5 minutes and enjoy your yummy, cheesy snack!

Quesadillas: Pack whole grain tortillas with shredded cheese, beans, corn, tomatoes and onions. You can also add cooked, cubed beef, pork or chicken. Heat in the microwave until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream and salsa. (photo from babble.com)

Fruit Kebabs: Layer fruits like berries, melon and pineapple on a kebab stick. Serve with yogurt or a dip such as softened cream cheese with a touch of drizzled honey and a drop of vanilla.

Daddy sharing his cows with Reese on his first Father’s Day. She’s a little scared in this photo but has really warmed up to them now.

Since today is Father’s Day, and June is National Dairy Month, I decided to share what makes my husband the best dairy daddy.

Blake loves showing our kids (Reese, 3, and Beckett, 1) all about being a farmer. Reese has already had a lot of hands-on experiences with cows and is discovering all the different aspects of raising them.

I love how he is instilling in our children (and his nieces and nephews) his love for animals. He is patient, caring, sensitive and kind, both in his work life and home life. He works hard until he gets the job done, then comes in and plays hard with the kids.

I love watching Blake be a dad. I would be proud if our kids grow up to be a farmer — or a parent — just like him.

Hansen’s Farm Fresh Dairy makes butter on a much larger scale, but the process is essentially the same.

Making butter is a fun, easy experiment — it’s educational and delicious. Try this at home with your kids. No old-fashioned butter churn required!

This activity will yield just enough butter for a single piece of bread or several crackers. For larger amounts of butter, use more heavy whipping cream and a mixer to thicken the cream. As a bonus, you can also make your own buttermilk by following these directions.

Pour 2 tablespoons of the heavy whipping cream into a small sealable container (preferably glass, like a baby food jar).

The chunk of butter is clearly visible after draining the buttermilk.

Seal the container and shake it vigorously for 3-5 minutes. The cream will start sticking to the sides, but you’re not done yet. Suddenly, a chunk of light, fluffy butter will clearly separate from the watery buttermilk and you’ll be able to hear it start slapping around in the jar. Once you hit this point, it’s important to stop shaking the jar (don’t over shake). The cream turns to butter because of the agitation and the warmth of your hands.

The butter isn’t ready to eat quite yet. Drain the buttermilk (the excess liquid) from your container. Next, spoon up the butter left in your container and dip it into cool water to rinse the remaining buttermilk from the butter.

When the excess water is gone from the butter, sprinkle on a small amount of salt, or even some fresh herbs, and spread it onto your bread or crackers. Enjoy your homemade butter!

Let us do the work — try a tub of Hansen’s Dairy butter!

To store leftovers, put the butter in a sealable container and refrigerate it.

CareerCast.com recently posted their annual listing for the 200 Worst Jobs in America for 2013. The rankings were based on five factors: physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook. “Dairy farmer” was listed as No. 6. So what do the farmers at Hansen’s Farm Fresh Dairy have to say about that?

Blake Hansen feeds hay to the 3-month-old heifers.

“If everyone loved their job as much as dairy farmers, there wouldn’t be such a list,” says Blake Hansen, herd manager.

Indeed. Working with cows can be very satisfying and rewarding, and a dairy farmer has to be completely committed to his craft in order to be successful. Like other self-employed people, their whole life revolves around their business. They do what they love to provide a nutritious food group to feed America. Their livelihood relies on those animals staying alive and healthy for years. If a farmer takes proactive steps to maintain the health of his cows, he maximizes his chances of success. If he takes care of the cows, they will take care of him.

Let’s address the factors that went into creating this worst job list.

Physical demands. Dairy farmers milk their cows at least twice a day, feed them three times a day, and care for them around the clock. They deal with inclement weather, delivering calves, heavy lifting and being on their feet all day. But Blake says the physical demands are nothing compared to the mental effort. Keeping track of the needs of 375 animals in different life stages is mentally taxing.

The 375 cows on the farm include Black and White Holsteins and Red and White Holsteins.

Work environment. OK, sometimes the smell is a little overwhelming. (You get used to it.) But who wouldn’t love the wide open spaces a farm provides? The steady supply of milk right outside your door? The opportunities for your kids to learn the value of family and hard work? Our small-scale farm (375 cows from newborn to 10 years old) allows us to get to know each cow by name and temperament. Blake knows who likes to be first in the milking parlor, who loves her tail rubbed and who is ready to calve. Imagine working with a group of girls with very unique, individual personalities, and not a catty one in the bunch!

Income. We’ll agree with this one. Many small dairy farms have had to sell out because of high input costs (feed and fuel) and low income (market prices for the milk). Twelve years ago our family took a financial risk by investing in facilities and equipment to bottle our own milk, and it has paid off in a big way. But we know it would be much harder for single-family farmers to put in that kind of time, money and effort. We are grateful to be able to support five families with the size farm we have.

Blake Hansen checks on a calf born just minutes earlier.

Stress. Every job has its ups and downs. The death of an adult cow who you saw being born, trying to get fieldwork done ahead of the rain, working side by side with family members, and managing employees can all be stressful. There’s very little vacation time. But there is nothing like the feeling of seeing a cow nursing her newborn calf that you helped deliver overnight. The life cycle is renewed, and it’s wonderful to think about that calf’s potential down the road. Our oldest cow has produced enough milk in her lifetime to fill four semi-trailers. And she’s still going.

Hiring outlook. Land prices around here have skyrocketed, so if you don’t already have a farm in the family that will be passed down to you, getting into the business by yourself is financially tough. And with large operations streamlining milk production, jobs are harder to come by. But hey, if any of you are looking for a job in the dairy industry, we usually have something available!

Gallons of 1% milk are bottled in the Hansen’s Farm Fresh Dairy creamery.

So, we would argue with dairy farming’s placement on the worst jobs list. The proof is bottled in a jug on your table with our name on it.

Hansen’s Farm Fresh Dairy is a unique family business. In the early 2000s, all four sons of Jay and Jeanne Hansen decided to come back to the home farm and work together to build an on-farm creamery. There are now 19 people (11 kids) who live on or near the farm. So what’s it like to live and work so closely with each other?

First, a little about me. I’m married to Blake Hansen, the youngest son. We have a 3-year-old daughter, Reese, and 5-month-old son, Beckett.

Me (Jordan), Beckett, Reese and Blake Hansen

I grew up on a dairy farm near Decorah, so I’m used to the nature of this work. Not eating supper until 8 p.m., struggling to find vacation time, and dealing with fly spots on EVERYTHING is commonplace to me. But it was just my mom, dad, sister and me. No employees, no creamery, no marketing. The Hansen farm is a different animal, and here’s why.

There’s always something going on. There are 7 family members and 10 non-family employees who work on the farm. That means you can’t go 20 feet without finding someone riding a tractor, someone cleaning something, someone giving a tour, or a cow having a calf. Milking happens from 4 to 7 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. every single day. The creamery runs full-steam all day Monday, Wednesday and Friday with ice cream made on other days.

Brad (right) and other creamery employees package butter.

In between, there are tours happening, cows and calves being fed, and machinery, vehicles and equipment being fixed. Work can happen around the clock when calves are being born, the electricity goes out or cows escape their enclosures.

It’s a great place to raise kids. The 11 grandkids who live on or near the farm are so creative and energetic. They love the wide-open spaces to play. They’ve made a train of kiddie tractors, wagons and bikes tied together with twine.

Morgan, Brady, Maddie, Reese and Mollie Hansen travel around the farm by “train.”

They’ve created full-course “meals” out of objects found outside (leaves drizzled with muddy water for salad; hosta leaves rolled into manicotti; flower petals, rocks and twigs stirred into soup).

They swim and fish in the pond.

Blair cools off in the pond this summer with the family.

They’ve each made a “treehouse” using old blankets and towels. They’ve crafted owls out of black walnuts split in half, pinecones and feathers. They jump on three trampolines nestled in the ground, and play cops and robbers.

They also willingly help do all different kinds of chores, which teaches them the value of hard work.

Almost everything we need is right here. Grandma and Grandpa or aunts and uncles are always around to baby-sit. We get together for meals a lot because someone will generously cook for a crowd. We have most any tool or piece of equipment one might need to fix something. As soon as we finish the racquetball court in the dome, Grandpa and the four sons will have a place to play their favorite sport. And the best part? Having an on-site grocery store. Thank God for it! How do you people remember to buy milk? We go through a gallon a day at our house. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked in the fridge to find the milk almost empty … or not enough butter to bake with … or no cheese for my casseroles … and I’ve cursed having to walk all the way outside to the cooler to get it! We also have enough meat to feed a small village (which, of course, is what we are).

There are always visitors. People are always dropping by to get their milk at the tour center or take a farm tour. A lot of business deliveries are being made.

The tour center is especially busy in the summer.

Also, four of the families live right on the farm. My house has the farm office so family members frequently drop by to take care of business. Privacy? Ha! Walking around naked in my own home is a risk I’m not willing to take. But at least I think most family members have figured out that afternoons are rest time at our house (for Mom and Dad too, not just our two kids!)

There’s a lot of love. Yes, we’re all in close proximity. Yes, personalities collide. Yes, the work is never done. But everyone takes time to stop and play a little bit. Above all we’re working as a team for our livelihood, and that of the next generation, too. I wouldn’t trade this life for anything!

Who doesn’t love looking at old family photos? Check out the Hansen family then and now. The first is from December 1995 and the second was taken just two weeks ago. The boys have always had baby faces, haven’t they? Most of them don’t look like they are in their 30s or pushing 40. But it’s good genes — Jay and Jeanne are also pretty youthful-looking in their early 60s. I think it’s because the family stays so active with work and play. It always amazes me that even at the end of a hard day’s work they all have the energy to wrestle around with their kids/grandkids. Milk must be the fountain of youth.

The Hansen family had an occasion to celebrate on Sunday. Baby Beckett (son of Blake and Jordan) came home after a nasty virus landed him in the hospital for two days. He made it home just in time to celebrate his big sister Reese’s 3rd birthday. We all gathered at the dome for Dora mermaid-themed cake and ice cream.

Afterward the youngsters went outside to see who could pluck the longest dandelion. Blake is the judge while the kids thrash around the hayfield and bring back their finds. The stems are usually about 2 feet long. The cows in the background are very curious about the night’s activities.

Even the little girls (Bridget, Mollie and Reese) get in on the fun and make a game out of hiding in the crops.

The night was capped off by a gorgeous sun setting above the pond. Brent, Sam, Sara and Sadie went down to enjoy the view.

Even though we work together all day, it’s great to have some downtime to enjoy the wide open spaces on the farm with the fam.